First Board Member
The first board member is the person who was elected to represent the fforst house in our relationships with the university, the city, the WoWi, and any other institution or external person who might contact us for any matters (cooperation, renting of the EE, forwarding of important information, etc.)
The first board member is therefore the first “face” of the project to the outside and is responsible for being in contact with all our partners and with all the other initiatives of the University which would like to work with us, plan an event at our place or rent it for their private events.
All three board members share the responsibility of the finances. (German Association Law) The Third Board Member is not carrying this weight alone. Please be aware to contact our tax consultants (read more here: The Auditors section) at the start of February (each winter semester) after concluding the audit of the previous year.
Tasks:
1. External communication (E-Mails from other organizations and private persons)
2. Management of the fforst calendar and overview of the event planning
3. Applying for Permits (German: Genehmigungen) of the City
4. Assembly Planning and setting the TOPs (agenda)
5. Be in contact with the Heads of Ressort
New First Board Member:
Have you been recently elected as First Board Member? Congrats!!! Here you will find some useful information about what you have to do once you got elected.
1. Getting access to the fforst office:
First of all, try to get the key of the office and then see how the office looks like. If it does look tidy, ask the last board to clean it and tidy it up. Also the keys for the mailbox.
You also need the login details of the fforst-email address and the yahoo group (Distribution List).
With the e-mail account you can read the emails, get access to the calendar.
With the yahoo group account you can manage the distribution list (i.e. add new members (New fförster)/ take members off the list who left).
2. Getting updated with the board matters:
Please ask the last board for a “report” of the situation, he has to explain you how the state of thing is, so you can understand the emails. Suggestion: Please read the last emails so you can also be informed by your own about how things are. When receiving an email, always read the previous emails regarding this matter and when you don't understand something or you need more infos/advice, please ask the person that was responsible for that matter.
3. Notifying other institutions on the election of the new board:
The third task is to notify all important institutions that there were elections at first and that a new board has been elected. For that, you find the e-mail template in the fforst e-mail account'. The institutions are:
a. WoWi
b. Uni
c. Uni-Press
e. Ordnungsamt (Frau Lindenberg?)
All the e-mails are written in a sheet of paper which hangs from the wall at the fforst office.
4. Notifying the "County Court
Fourth, you have to notify also the “County Court”. For that, there are some steps The Board has to follow before sending the formal letter to them.
Here the procedure step-by-step:
A. The Board has to write the “Antrag eines neuen Vorstands”. You find the template by searching for it in the searching tool of the office computer.
B. You need to get the documents you need to attach to the letter:
i. General Assembly Minutes of the General Assembly in which the new board was elected.
ii. The list of fforst-members present at the General Assembly.
IMPORTANT(!): Check that all names have been correctly written (Name and Lastname), especially of The Board Members, the person that led the General Assembly and of the person that recorded the minutes. The minutes must have at the end:
i. Date
ii. Signature of new First Board Member
iii. Signature of the Protokollant
iv. Signature of the person who led the General Assembly.
C. Once you got all of that, you have to organize a meeting with the notary (Frau Engel). All the new board members have to go to the meeting because you all have to sign the letter you prepared for the County Court (“Antrag eines neues Vorstands”) in front of her. You also have to bring with you:
i. The letter + minutes + “presence” list;
ii. money to pay for her service. Remember to ask for a copy of it;
iii. your IDs / passport (if someone is not German).
D. Once you got the letter for the County Court from the notary, you have to send it, together with the protocol signed by all important persons and the list of fforst-members present at the General Assembly, you have to send all these documents to the County Court.
E. Then, you have to wait at least one month, til you get a letter from them stating that the application was approved and the new board had been successfully registered. You have to put this document into the folder (XXXXXXXX) (you can find this folder in the office shelf).
4. Start answering Emails
You have to start answering emails. Every time you get an email, you have to see what kind of email it is:
4.1 Info Emails: There are plenty emails that are just Info-emails (AStA, university, other initiatives, invitations to events, etc). AStA/StuPa assemblies are really important, so always forward these emails to the distribution list. For the others, decide on your own, if you want to forward them or not.
4.2 Request Emails: you always have to thank for the email/request and say that you have to ask in the Weekly Assembly, if we can do it or not. (Please see the template “XXXX” in Google Drive
4.2.1 External Events: There are important questions you have to ask. please see template “Request - First Contact” in Google Drive
4.2.2 Cooperation in Events: Thank for the email and say you will ask the Weekly Assembly what they think, and at the same time ask for more infos (for example, what exactly they need from us: equipment, manpower, shifts, bar, rooms, etc)
5. Reminding the Third Board Member to organize the meeting with the Bank
Do not forget that the Third Board Member has to organize a meeting with the bank, to which every board member has to go because you need to certify your signatures in order to operate the fforst bank account. It is important, otherwise none will be able to operate the account and you'll depend on the last board members for any transaction you have to do, which will end up being tedious for every one!
Good Practices
1. Check emails regularly.
2. Check the mailboxes regularly (once per week is ok).
3. Check the calendar, over time someone wants to do something. If we have many events that week and you think it is too much, say that during the Weekly Assembly which is next so we are not that stressed and everyone is aware of that.
4. Keep in touch with the other board members and their issues, so everyone knows about everything and you can support each other. Weekly meetings or every two weeks are a good practice.
5. Keep in touch with Heads of Ressort so you are updated and you can also ask them for tasks you need to be done and also they can tell you what they need also to be done from their side. You can also organize meeting with them.
6. ASK ANY OLD BOARD MEMBER FOR ANY HELP WHEN YOU FEEL IT!
7. Remember that you are part of a big team which includes all the fforst members. So, if you need any help, ask for it and somebody will help you out!
